I personally agree with you, man. But it's not the first time I've hear that Japanese take some offense from refusing invitations to this kind of meeting. Either way, I don't believe it's a matter of life or death either.
I personally agree with you, man. But it's not the first time I've hear that Japanese take some offense from refusing invitations to this kind of meeting. Either way, I don't believe it's a matter of life or death either.Sure if you want to join the party you can just drink non-alcoholic drinks and I'm sure no one will mind. However if you just don't like going to drinking parties for whatever reason, I'm sure that other people will respect that too. What I meant to say is, I don't think "never say no to an invitation" is good advice. Just give your reasons so that no one's offended.
I would say be careful on how you handle that, as you will sell yourself short there is a way to tell a Prof. is wrong....., Professor as are also more understanding as your a foreigner but just saying yes yes yes you miss out on gaining an important social skill and will kill you if you every intend to have a global career.Hey everyone,
Yesterday my local consulate promoted an instruction meeting for all MEXT students, informing all necessary information from cultural shock experiences to bureaucratic procedures at our arrival. Really worth it.
From that meeting, I really would like to share with you the following universal advises given by the consulate personnel. Most of them are known to us, but who knows. This might help someone. Here are the tips:
- Never confront your teachers, even when you know you are right on the subject;
That's what I can remember. Thanks for your attention!
in the office place+ Lab oriented departments its really important as that the place to vent, tell someone you agree or disagree honestly you will never climb the social ladder in Japan without it but you can refrain from drinking alcohol its the same with being invited to an onsen by a family member in JapanI personally agree with you, man. But it's not the first time I've hear that Japanese take some offense from refusing invitations to this kind of meeting. Either way, I don't believe it's a matter of life or death either.
I would say be careful on how you handle that, as you will sell yourself short there is a way to tell a Prof. is wrong....., Professor as are also more understanding as your a foreigner but just saying yes yes yes you miss out on gaining an important social skill and will kill you if you every intend to have a global career.
Are you flying to KIX? I got my ticket to Haneda! I was hoping there would be more MEXT people on the plane to get all hyped with.
Edit: oh wow for some reason in my head I kept reading "Hiroshima" as "Hokkaido" this whole time. Of course you'd be going to KIX!
Yep, direct! I'm so happy because the last few times I've been to Japan have been with long layovers. It seems weird to me that they don't get us all there direct and then do the connections via Haneda, but whatever system they have works, I guess?Are you flying direct? I have a massive layover in Bangkok before I arrive at KIX the next day.
I understood the warning they gave as something like: "in the western you may be used to have a free dialog with your superiors, but there you should watch what you say and how you say considerably more".
I appear to be in quite a pickle, as far as this timetable is concerned, as I will be finishing my final physics undergrad examinations and lab reports/projects in mid-July, and one of the laboratories is notorious for holding out on the final grades all the way into September-October.
Not sure if it's the right place to ask since this is the thread for the previous year's program, but I suppose you all have fresh experience with this.
I understand that the application for the 2018 research student scholarship will open in April, and you'd have to complete the embassy application process roughly by mid-June, so they could screen you and invite you for a test and interview in mid-July. If you pass it, you have up until the end of August to finish up the application process with the 3 universities you've chosen, and then you need to wait for the LOA.
I appear to be in quite a pickle, as far as this timetable is concerned, as I will be finishing my final physics undergrad examinations and lab reports/projects in mid-July, and one of the laboratories is notorious for holding out on the final grades all the way into September-October.
This creates an uncomfortable situation, and while I can mitigate the last problem by making the professor aware of my time constraints, I am very uneasy about it, and I wanted to hear your opinions/experiences on this matter.
Am I even eligible to participate in next year's scholarship, since they require one to have "completed" their studies in advance? Have anyone here encountered such a problem?
I was in a similar situation. I'm going to complete my Master's course in May 2017 and will get my degree by July or August 2017.Not sure if it's the right place to ask since this is the thread for the previous year's program, but I suppose you all have fresh experience with this.
I understand that the application for the 2018 research student scholarship will open in April, and you'd have to complete the embassy application process roughly by mid-June, so they could screen you and invite you for a test and interview in mid-July. If you pass it, you have up until the end of August to finish up the application process with the 3 universities you've chosen, and then you need to wait for the LOA.
I appear to be in quite a pickle, as far as this timetable is concerned, as I will be finishing my final physics undergrad examinations and lab reports/projects in mid-July, and one of the laboratories is notorious for holding out on the final grades all the way into September-October.
This creates an uncomfortable situation, and while I can mitigate the last problem by making the professor aware of my time constraints, I am very uneasy about it, and I wanted to hear your opinions/experiences on this matter.
Am I even eligible to participate in next year's scholarship, since they require one to have "completed" their studies in advance? Have anyone here encountered such a problem?
I would recommend that you ask your embassy directly, there are countries where it's ok to present a letter from the University saying you meet al requirenment, while there are other countries, like mine, that will not let you participate in the selection process unless you already have your diploma.Not sure if it's the right place to ask since this is the thread for the previous year's program, but I suppose you all have fresh experience with this.
I understand that the application for the 2018 research student scholarship will open in April, and you'd have to complete the embassy application process roughly by mid-June, so they could screen you and invite you for a test and interview in mid-July. If you pass it, you have up until the end of August to finish up the application process with the 3 universities you've chosen, and then you need to wait for the LOA.
I appear to be in quite a pickle, as far as this timetable is concerned, as I will be finishing my final physics undergrad examinations and lab reports/projects in mid-July, and one of the laboratories is notorious for holding out on the final grades all the way into September-October.
This creates an uncomfortable situation, and while I can mitigate the last problem by making the professor aware of my time constraints, I am very uneasy about it, and I wanted to hear your opinions/experiences on this matter.
Am I even eligible to participate in next year's scholarship, since they require one to have "completed" their studies in advance? Have anyone here encountered such a problem?
A majority of Bachelor's degree offered in India (for pure science and not engineering or medicine) are of 3 years. This 15 years education criteria might differ from country to country (like frida said) .Thanks for the replies. There is another question I have which might sound quite silly. I have skipped a grade in elementary school and so I don't actually have the required 16 years of education to qualify (technically), and I've read that @indojindesu's first time application got rejected because he "only" had a 15 years education. I should note that I'm over 22 years old (I'm 25), but the eligibility section's formulation is very confusing, at least when it comes to what examination I must have completed to be deemed equivalent of having a 16 years education.
In my country, the majority of B.Sc. programs for natural sciences are 3 years long, so even if I didn't skip a grade and had been a regular graduate, I would still have only 15 years worth of education. I'm kind of anxious about this, even though it seems silly, so I would be glad if someone could elucidate me on this as well.
Special thanks to @madphysicist for the very informative and wonderful blog (it helps also that we share the same major, and prior to this I couldn't find any information on physics grad students on MEXT research student scholarships).
Mostly JAL.hey does anyone know which airlines there flying with ??? hoping to fly with emirates or qatar
hey does anyone know which airlines there flying with ??? hoping to fly with emirates or qatar
So basically there's no avoiding asking the embassy directly? They have individual consultations and a fairly active email for these inquiries, but the reason I'm asking elsewhere is that I have a feeling asking these sorts of questions might jeopardize my application, in a "if you have to ask you probably can't afford it" kind of way. Of course it's most likely unwarranted, and looks like there's no escape from an official inquiry.
I finally received my reservation, I will be travelling Mexico-Narita-Kansai April 2nd to arrive April 3rd!!!
Also, some recommendations from yesterday's meeting with ex-MEXT:
1. For those staying at a cheap dorm, save money, you will need it for when you need to move out of the form. Don't spend it all!
2. If someone gives you a bike, before accepting it check at the police station if it doesn't have a stolen report or if it doesn't have unpaid fines.
3. If someone offers to give you their TV, wash machine, etc, because they don't use it/are moving out, check first if it works correctly, and if you are not receiving a bigger problem. Getting rid of those things cost a lot of money in Japan, so people prefer to give them away, but it might become YOUR problem to get rid of it.
4. MEXT scholarship money is deposited through Japan Post Bank, be sure to open the account as soon as you can.
5. Everyone should get assigned a MEXT sempai-tutor, they get paid to help you the first 6 months you are there, so don't be shy to ask for help.
I think that was the most important part of it alleverything else was as has been discussed before.
Thanks guys. Will post your replies on the facebook group too!We had a meeting for scholarship students this week. None of the information is worth repeating, just really obvious stuff like "remember to register your address when you arrive" and "you should really learn some Japanese". I was surprised that most people didn't speak a word of Japanese which is perhaps why the advice assumed we knew absolutely nothing about Japan. Everyone except me is going to Tokyo.
Often people ask on this forum how humanities students are viewed, especially artists. Not everyone came to the meeting but there were more humanities students than science/engineering students and there were a couple of artists. They did seem to have research with a strong link to Japan so I'd suggest to art students they need to emphasise that.
Also just to correct a statement I made earlier on this thread:
Before I posted about the IIJmio data-only SIM card and said it gives you a Japanese number...
well technically it does but I'm fairly sure now that you can't receive calls on that number. So why they told me my number at all is a mystery.
I have found this company that says they'll give you a SIM without needing a bank account and they have English support, but I haven't tried them myself:
Japan Unlimited SIM Card | Fast Unlimited Japanese Data, No Contract!
It's rather expensive but perhaps not much more than renting a phone.
Actually I think my research group will give me a phone in the office so I can use that if I need a phone number. This might be the case for some of you too.
You can list only 2 universities. I did that.Congratulations all! Reading this thread and seeing everyone succeed has been really great.
I didn't see a thread for this year's
I am hoping to apply for MEXT this year, but I had a question about the three choices for universities... must you have three/did you all put three choices on your applications? I have found two programs that fit my research very well, but not a third. What are your thoughts on that?